August Star in Autumn Sky
by Wererat
Summary: Something dark stirs within the realm of Makai when Maribel Hearn is spirited away to Gensokyo. Separated from her best friend in a dangerous new world, only an unwilling protector stands between her and the forces that lurk in the shadows.
1. The Uncertainty principle

August Star in Autumn Sky

Prologue

-Two months after the Palanquin Ship Incident-

_Summer has almost come and passed… funny how time flies when you aren't even looking. It wouldn't be long before the color of the leaves changed and then the land would be draped in a blanket of purest white, such is the fleeting imperceptibility of time._ So thought the woman with waist-length blonde hair as she walked the path leading up to a small, nondescript Buddhist temple, warding away the vicious sun with an ornate white parasol, festooned with many red ribbons.

She hadn't made it five steps within the temple grounds that someone stepped out barring her progress with a spear. She had short, orange-blonde hair with black stripes… not unlike a tiger as she saw it, and undoubtedly possessed a ferociousness to match. The visitor's lip curled into a bemused smile. "It's refreshing to see not all door guards are remiss in their duties."

"What business do you have here?" pressed the guard, not budging an inch, her yellow eyes betraying neither fear nor hesitation.

"Just come to offer my regards to your mistress," replied the visitor, who was suddenly reminded of someone in her own service.

"It's alright, Shou," a voice spoke up from behind the guard. "I've actually been expecting her."

"Lady Hijiri…!" The guard turned and began to protest but quickly backed down, lowering her weapon. Appearing from behind the guard was a woman with long wavy hair of usual coloration, beginning as a dark purple at the top of her head before receding to light dark brown toward the ends. A gentle smile graced her face as she spread her hands out before her in a welcoming gesture.

"Anyone is welcome to this temple, be they angel or demon they will be granted the protection of Vaisravana," she glanced at the guard, Shou Toramaru, after saying this. "Though I must confess I had expected a visit from either you or your familiar far earlier than this, Youkai of Boundaries."

"You know of me, then. Well, that saves me the trouble of introducing myself, so it all works out in the end" stated Yukari Yakumo with an air of indifference as she twirled her parasol around where it rested on her shoulder and did a little curtsy. "I have been somewhat… busy lately, otherwise I would have made it a point to visit sooner."

"Likewise, I would have sought you out had I not been preoccupied with setting in. You needn't worry," said the magician in monk's clothing, Byakuren Hijiri, in an assuring tone, "I have no intention or interest in upsetting the balance of power in this world, my only purpose to provide guidance and enlightemnt to those who have lost their way in the dark."

"Perhaps you can enlighten me, then." said Yukari. "Certain rumors abound of late and I understand you have the means to confirm or deny them."

"If you are referring to the recent happenings in Makai." Byakuren said, her brow furrowing slightly. "It would be best if we moved this discussion inside. I've already taken the precaution of placing a protective barrier around the temple." She led the way up a zigzagging flight of stone stairs up to the temple and pushed the screen door to the side.

Taking a folding fan from the folds of her dress and slicing it though the air, Yukari opened a rift, ten centimeters in length, restricted in space by a pair of red lace bows. It was into the shadowy, nebulous space within that she stowed away her parasol before slipping off her shoes and entering the temple.

"The ability to create and manipulate the very boundaries of reality at will," said Byakuren, who had been quietly observing Yukari's ability, her tone relaxed yet still formal. She supposed most people would have been left in stupefied awe or stunned with terror but such a feat, but she had seen plenty more disconcerting things in her time, she herself being one of them. "What a convenient, if not frightening power. Is it with this that you formed and now maintain the barrier surrounding Gensokyo?"

"Partly," Yukari corrected her, sitting down on a cushion before a long table as a velvet-haired girl in a white sailor's outfit appeared out of nowhere without a word and set a steaming cup of tea on the table in front of them and then vanished again. "The Hakurei formed the boundary, hence the name," Yukari continued, completely unfazed by the sudden appearance and disappearance of the girl. "I simply maintain the boundary... a rather menial task by comparison."

"I see…" Byakuren said, sounding somewhat disappointed as the girl reappeared and set another cup before her mistress. "Ah, thank you, Murasa…" she said to the girl before turning back to Yukari. "Is there any way the Hakurei could create another one of these barriers…?"

"There is but one surviving member, not nearly ready enough to perform the ritual." Yukari replied. "Though her potential is great she remains immature and… unmotivated. Why do you ask?"

"A pity…" Byakuren said sadly but not altogether surprised. "In answer to your question, Madam Yukari, you are aware that Hokkai, the area of Makai in which I was sealed, was but a sliver of the vastness that is that realm?"

Yukari nodded her head silently in assent.

"In breaking the seal that bound me to that realm, another seal was inadvertently damaged; as it is we who are responsible, my disciples and I have tried several times to repair it. However this task is simply beyond the scope of our power, and I fear it is only a matter of time before it breaks completely."

"Nearly half of Makai's military force has been mobilized… it's almost as if they are preparing for a war." Yukari said leaning forward, her voice dropping its usual nonchalant tone. "Some of the races of Gensokyo have expressed concerns that they are the spearhead of an invasion force… whatever could have been sealed that they be acting in such a way?"

Byakuren paused for a moment, taking a sip of tea before releasing a sigh and answering. "Something the denizens of Makai, Gensokyo, the Netherworld, Higan… even the outside world are unprepared to face. I can only pray that when the time comes, it will not be too late."

"Too late for what?"

"To weather out the storm," Hijiri said, setting her cup down and glancing out the window before casting her eyes downward with a sigh. "For this is but the calm before it."

Chapter 1 – The Uncertainty Principle

_Running_.

Running for dear life, through a narrow corridor of dense bamboo trees; she could see nothing on either side, but in the sky above the waxing moon hung ominously over her head like a half-closed eye watching on impassively… almost mockingly. Something was following her. She could hear it a few steps behind, the rustling of leaves, the scratching of the ground. An occasional voice piercing the silence of the night. A childlike giggling that sent a cold chill up her back. No matter how hard she ran, no matter how fast, it always managed to close the distance. It could have easily caught her whenever it desired but instead toyed with her, like a cat to a mouse. And yet still she dared not stop.

She felt something moist; hot breath on the back of her neck, and she could feel a pressure on her back, which turned her legs into lead bricks and made even lifting her feet off the ground an exercise in futility. Something roughly grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her back; she flailed her arms reflexively, trying to shake it off, then-

Maribel Hearn's hand struck a plastic cup, half-full of tea, which had long since turned cold, knocking it over and spilling the reddish-brown contents all over her desk as the door behind her unlocked and swung inward. Blinking groggily, she observed as the red liquid gradually soaked into a stack of assorted documents and sketches. On the corner of her desk an alarm clock dutifully droned away, the blood red digital numbers on the front reading 14:30.

Amidst all this the door swinging open and someone enters; short black hair under a velvet fedora hat, a notebook with a host of pens slipped into the breast pocket of a white button-up shirt.

"Mary, you forgot to lock up again," she said closing the door behind her.

"Quick, towel!" was the most complete and intelligible sentence the awakened girl could form in the Japanese language, glancing back with a pleading look and lifting the dripping book over her desk.

The girl who had just come in dropped the plastic bags she was carrying and hurriedly opened the door to the lavatory to retrieve a handful of white cotton towels and handed then over.

"You fell asleep at you desk again?" she asked, arms crossed, watching Maribel mop up the spill. "That's got to be killer on your back."

Stepping over to the sink, Maribel wrung out the towel and rinsed it out thoroughly before draping it over a drying rod. "I don't even remember when I dozed off."

The dreams were becoming more vivid than ever. She could still feel where that hand had gripped her by the wrist, and that chilling giggle still haunted her like tiny pinpricks in the back of her mind. She shook her head as though the memories would fly out like moths.

"I was in a forest, Renko…" she said, switching off the alarm clock and sitting on the edge of her bed. "Bamboo trees taller than a building… and there was this path that seemed to carry on forever into the dark. Someone or... some_thing_ was there." she paused, realizing my hands are shaking. "It all seemed so… familiar."

"Here…" Renko said, picking up one of the dropped bags and pulled from it a can of warm coffee and pressed it lightly against the side of Maribel's face, an action which made her jump slightly in surprise. "I picked this up at the convenience store, thought you might want it… couldn't find the usual kind. Sorry." disregarding her warning, Maribel took the can eagerly pulling the tab and tipped the contents it into her mouth. Her nose wrinkled at the bitter taste, far stronger than the kind she typically bought from the vending machines behind the dormitory. Ever the one to be prepared, Renko deftly removed the can from Maribel's hand and replaced the space it formerly occupied with her own. Taking a tentative sip, Maribel found this one, with a faint hint of vanilla flavoring, far more palatable.

"This isn't so bad is it?" Renko said, sitting down beside her friend, sipping from the can. "Though I still say a café is preferable in the long run… no matter how hard they try or how far technology advances they can never seem to lose that all-so subtle taste of aluminum."

"Coffee from an orbital café would be nice." Maribel smiled and wrapped her hands around the can feeling the warmth transfer to her cold palms. The season must be changing to fall… the air was becoming cooler and she could see the leaves outside her window were a beautiful shade of red…

"They're happening more frequently now aren't they?" Renko said, finally confronting the elephant in the room. "These dreams…"

"And more vivid, too… it's like I'm there. I can smell the air, feel the wind, hear the sounds around me." She shivered slightly. "And that presence, it's like a darkness that's reaching for me, trying to tear the life away from me."

"It's all right, Mary, it can't get to you now." Renko said, suddenly putting a hand over her friend's shoulder, and squeezed gently. "Would you like to cancel the club activities?"

Maribel turned to her and smiled. "It's not like I'm going to be afraid of the dark from now on. We're still going, just as scheduled."

Renko nodded, but something in Maribel's eyes betrayed the fears she would not give voice to.

* * *

The afternoon passed like a fleeting breeze on a hot day, nice while it lasts but over all too soon. The end of Maribel's last class was signaled by the sound of the professor stiffly shutting the cover of his book and the students chair's scraping the floor as they got up to shuffle out of the door. The sun was beginning its slow plunge towards the horizon, staining the clouds madder red.

Gathering her books and notes into a neat pile, she slipped them into the satchel on the floor next to her seat and picked it up as she stood, stretching her stiff limbs as people walked by with tired looks.

She passed through the door out of the classroom and into a hallway, down to a flight of stairs and then out a pair of double doors into the courtyard outside, where she waited on a stone bench. She was about to check the time on her cell phone display when she caught a figure racing down the cobblestone path out of the corner of her eye. Renko stopped just a little bit in front of her, her face flushed. Maribel waited for her to catch her breath before putting her phone away and said in a mock-reproachful tone.

"You are exactly one minute and thirty-two seconds late."

"I'm perfectly on time." Renko said, holding a bag containing bottled green tea and packaged onigiri from the university co-op store in one hand and flashing a peace sign with the other. It seemed she'd just come back from getting rations for the evening's expedition. "Still feeling up to it, Mary?"

"After listening to Professor Morita's monotone voice drone on about Queer Theory for half an hour?" Maribel replied, shaking her head and placing a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "I could use a nice walk to stretch my legs out."

"In that case why don't we go to that one shrine?" Renko pulled a small notepad from her pocket and flipped it open. "The Hazama Shrine. It's not too far from here."

"Sounds good to me," Maribel said, picking up her armbag and slipped the strap over her shoulder while she watched Renko press on the keys on her cellphone as she sent a text message to someone. It was a habit she usually followed before embarking one of their expeditions.

They walked the stone path up to the campus gates and Maribel waited for Renko to unlock her bicycle before they passed through the gates and followed the narrow street left, looking back occasionally to make sure there weren't any cars coming up from behind them. Renko walked beside her bicycle while Maribel looked up at the darkening sky.

After a while trees began to line the roadside and the road itself became a steep incline and to the side of the road Maribel could make out a single toori gate, worn with age and neglect, marking the entrance to a shrine.

Sitting beneath one of the pillars was a small black cat cleaning one of its feet until it heard their approach, and it leapt into the underbrush without making so much as a sound. But before it vanished, Maribel saw something that made her stop and blink.

"Renko." She said, tugging on her friend's sleeve. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Renko asked, bringing her bike to a stop and turning to her. There was hesitation in her voice

"The cat over there…" She pointed to where it had been sitting.

"Sorry," Renko frowned, peering toward where Maribel pointed. "I might have seen a shadow move, but nothing else."

"Oh," Maribel sighed quietly and shook her head. "Maybe it was my imagination." But even though she said that, she could not get it out her mind. That cat… before it jumped away she was sure she saw something that couldn't have been possible.

The cat had two tails.

* * *

Garnet Moonsong sat on a smooth, naturally polished stone near the edge of Misty Lake, watching the sunset with an air of growing unease. The fairies had been growing increasingly restless of late, and being a greater fairy herself, she could feel the changes that had been occurring better than perhaps anyone could. She could feel it in the movement of the air, as one whose domain was linked with the air; a child of nature as her kind was often described.

Thrice a bell tolled in the clock tower of the crimson mansion on the other side of the lake as the sun sank beneath the horizon, plunging the land of Gensokyo into a cold darkness lightened only by the countless stars and the pale glow of a half moon, reflected over the water's calm surface. The change came quickly; hundreds of tiny orbs, glowing with uncanny phosphorescence, lit up and danced lazily around her. It was a beautiful, if unearthly sight.

"Enjoy'n the view?"

Garnet looked up, pulled away from her reverie, as another fairy descended from the sky and landed on the water, which crystallized beneath her bare feet with a low cracking sound.

"Cirno…"

Garnet gave the other fairy a sidelong glance from her perch. Her short light blue hair, adorned with a plain green bow and her dark blue dress with its red ribbon suggested a certain simplicity about her, but behind her icy blue eyes the flames of passion burned. Her icicle-shaped wings beat excitedly on her back as she gazed upwards, hands placed firmly on her hips.

"Don't ye think it's a bit little dangerous ter be play'n out at night? All the other fairies've run off hide'n in that mansion."

"I know… they can all tell something bad is about to happen."

Cirno smirked and caught one of the glowing orbs on the end of her finger; it froze solid instantly and dropped into the lake with a hollow _plop_. "Then I'll be here teh protect yeh."

Garnet smiled. _A lesser ice fairy protecting a greater fairy? Who would have thought_? "Thank you, Cirno… but I've actually been thinking about going to the mansion as well," she saw Cirno's sneer and quickly added. "Not to hide; I'm going to find the sorcerer of the Voile library. She'll know why the air feels so dense of late."

Cirno thought over this for a moment before nodding. "In that case I'm go'n with yeh… but lemme get this straight, I ain't serv'n no one no tea or call'n no one 'm'lady'!"

* * *

Maribel walked the perimeter of the Hazama Shrine, flashlight in hand, casting its narrow band of light over anything that looked interesting, but aside from a few stone tablets with weathered engravings there was little worth taking notice of.

A series of audible shutter clicks informed her that Renko was taking another set of photos somewhere nearby. She shone her light in the direction of the sound, illuminating her fellow club member, who was holding the viewfinder of a high-tech looking camera to her eye. Renko looked up from the camera and waved.

"You getting hungry?" She asked, letting the camera hang by the strap around her neck.

"Maybe a little bit."

"Well I'm starving," Renko said, looking for the stump where she'd left the bag with their provisions. Upon finding it, she pulled out the bottled tea and tossed one of them to Maribel, who caught it awkwardly and opened it to take a brief sip while Renko unwrapped one of the onigiri.

"So… have you seen anything interesting?" Maribel asked screwing the cap back on her bottle.

"Won't know until the images have been processed," said Renko, after finishing her meal and washing it down with a mouthful of tea.

"I was just thinking... This spirit photography, or whatever it is, isn't really scientific, is it? Pseudo-science at best maybe. But not what I had in mind for a hard-broiled physicist.

"Hard-broiled?" Renko gave out a burst of laughter as she was drinking, nearly spewing some of her tea on the ground. "_Ha_! You think way too highly of us, Mary. Actually, scientists may be more superstitious than anyone else on Earth."

"How's that?" Maribel asked doubting.

"Well, as you learn more about the processes of the universe, more aberrations appear; for every question answered, two new mysteries take their place. Ours is an existence walking the borderline of certainty and doubt, theory and probability. By our reasoning, the existence of a multiverse is within the realm of possibility."

"Like fighting a hydra in the dark, huh." Maribel laughed to herself.

"What do you think about all of this, Mary?" Renko asked, glancing sidelong at her friend in the darkness, "I've got a hard time figuring you out sometimes. You're sort of a closed book."

Maribel was silent for a moment, looking down at the bottle in her hands. "Have you ever woken from a dream only to realize you are in another dream… a dream so real you could almost believe it was real. And then you begin to wonder… was the dream you woke up from really a dream? Am I the butterfly or am I Maribel Hearn…? I'm slipping Renko… every day feels like I'm getting pulled closer and closer to the dream."

"Mary… if there's one thing that scares me, it's the thought of you going somewhere I can't follow." After a long pause Renko took a deep breath and, grasping one of Maribel's hands she looked at her friend gravely. "There's… something I need to tell you. After I graduate, my parents want me to…"

She stopped in mid sentence, looking off at something over Maribel's shoulder. "Mary, what's that?"

"Huh…?" Maribel, taken aback by Renko's suddenly seriousness, glanced back at whatever Renko was seeing. Behind them, hanging in the air was what could only be described as an opening – a six-centimeter long crevice in the middle of the air through which an eerie light was pouring. "You can see that?"

"Yeah," Renko nodded slowly. "What, what is it?"

"I don't know." Maribel said, standing up. Slowly, cautiously she walked towards it, holding her hand out, bathed in the pale light. "It's… sort of beautiful, isn't it?"

"Mary, if you don't know what it is, maybe you shouldn't get too close to it." Renko tried to put a staying hand on Maribel's shoulder, but the other girl was drawn towards the light like a moth. Looking through the crevice all she could see was brilliant light… pulsing… formless. Somehow she could see the silhouette of a figure walk towards her, holding her hand out to reach hers.

For a moment Maribel wavered and began to draw back, but in that instant the shadowy hand reached forward, its fingers entwining with hers, and shortly before she slipped out of consciousness she could hear a voice speak two words into her ear.

It's time.

* * *

Everything was consumed by darkness. It felt as though she was falling.

The ground was cold and wet, and she could feel that the back of her dress had been thoroughly soaked. At first she simply tried breathing; a task that was harder than she had though at first, as that filled her lungs was dense and humid, mixed with a faint scent of smoke. Next she attempted to move each of her sore limbs, starting with the smallest digit and then moved down until she tried her legs. At last she opened her eyes and was greeted with the night sky filled with more stars than she could ever remembered seeing.

With the help of her arms, Maribel lifted herself gently to an upright position, wincing slightly as a dull pain coursed down the center of her back, and she took a good look at her surroundings. The shrine was gone… she was alone in a forest of bamboo, illuminated by pale moonlight.

_Was this just another dream? It was so real and yet everything felt so unreal…_

"Renko…?" She slowly pulled herself to her feet and began searching the immediate area for her friend. "Renko… where are you?"

She started down the path, regardless of not knowing where it would lead her. It was well-maintained and easy to follow, which led Maribel to believe that perhaps someone might be living nearby… maybe she could ask for help there, wherever there was.

With this in mind she trudged on determinedly despite her sore legs, calling out for Renko and staying mindful of her surroundings and a growling rising from the pit of her stomach. She had forgotten to eat lunch and the only thing she had eaten recently was one of the onigiri Renko had bought. From the corner of my eye she spied a light moving and jumped slightly, only to realize these were fireflies, no less than a hundred of them, dancing around her in the forest; eerie, yet strangely beautiful at the same time.

Absorbed by this light show around her she almost didn't hear the sound of a voice further down the path… something that sounded much like sobbing.

"Renko…?" She called out and hurried toward it as fast as her legs would allow.

What she found was not Renko but a young girl standing there sniffling, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. She was surprised at first by her hair; short and golden blonde with a small red bow tied at the side, but she knelt down in front of her and mopped up her tears with the back of her hand.

"Are you lost?" Maribel asked at first in English. "Did you get separated from your parents?" But the girl simply looked up with a confused expression.

"Big Sister uses strange words," the girl said in Japanese between her sobbing, and this time it was Maribel's turn to be confused. "Rumia doesn't understand her at all!"

"Are you here all by yourself?" She rephrased her question in Japanese this time and the girl's eyes lit up with recognition. "Where are your mama and papa?"

"Rumia doesn't know," the girl said, moving slightly closer. "It's scary… Rumia can't find her way through the dark all alone."

"Actually, I'm looking for my friend, too," Maribel said. "There must be a house or something up ahead. Maybe if we go there we'll be able to find someone to help us."

"So… what Big Sis's saying is that… she's all alone too?" the girl said, taking another step closer. Something was wrong; a thick, impenetrable darkness was forming around the girl. It swirled and twisted around her like a cloud of black ink that had been spilled in the air.

"Yeah," Maribel replied, feeling a sudden chill up her back and took an involuntary step backward.

The girl stepped into a narrow band of moonlight and her eyes glowed red like softly burning embers as she cocked her head playfully to the side, her mouth distorted into a monstrously wide grin, revealing a pair of fangs crusted with dried blood.

"So, you're saying that no one's gonna come for you if you scream?"

Maribel couldn't even find the voice in her to scream – she stumbled backwards a while before finding her footing and broke into a full run, her heart pounding as though it were trying to escape, her legs screaming in protest but pushing on nonetheless. She could hear the girl's giggling voice several feet behind her.

"Is this a game of _onigokko_?" she asked in a cute, sing-song voice. Maribel didn't dare look back to see how far away she was. "Does that mean Rumia's the oni? Can she eat you if she catches you?"

"Wake up, wake up, _wake up_…" Maribel muttered to herself as she ran blindly through the pitch black darkness, towering stalks bamboo flashing past on either side. "None of this is real. It's just another dream. There's nothing to be afraid of!"

"_Is that so~_?"

A pair of glowing red eyes pierced the darkness mere inches from her face and Maribel felt a sickness in her stomach as she realized where the girl had been - floating upside down above her the entire time. She knew then that running was pointless, and yet she couldn't stop her legs from moving, spurred forward now by thoughts of being eaten alive. Small hands seized her, and she could feel the girl's hot breath, the wetness of her tongue, and the sharpness of her fangs as they scraped against the skin of her neck.

Maribel screamed, flailing her arms wildly and somehow she managed to knock the girl away, only to hear a giggle in the distance behind her and broke into song.

"_Little lamb is lost in the woods, doesn't know where to run to~! Leave her alone and she'll run home, straight to the cooking fire!_"

She saw a light up ahead; not light like the fireflies but firelight. The narrow corridor of trees widened into a clearing, and at the center of the clearing was a lone figure of what appeared to be a teenaged girl with waist-length hair sitting atop a pile of bound bamboo, carving a small piece of bamboo with a knife. Hearing the approaching footsteps she looked up from her woodwork and sighed.

"Can't you two keep it down?" she growled, throwing her tool into the ground blade-down. "It's already this late, y'know."

"You've got to get away from her! There's this little girl that's chasing, only she's not!" Maribel said urgently running towards the woodcutter. "I mean she _is _chasing me but she's not a girl! Not human!" As she came closer to the light she could see that the other girl's hair was silvery white and her eyes blood red. Maribel froze in her tracks. "And- and- you're…"

"Starting to get annoyed - you didn't think all that shouting wouldn't wake up half the _youkai_ in this forest, did you? You don't put a lot of value on your own life, do you?" The girl glared at her. "Don't tell me you don't know the rules?"

"Rules?" asked Maribel helplessly, wishing any of this would start making sense.

"Tch, you're not from around her are you? Get behind me!" she said suddenly, grabbing Maribel by the wrist and pulled her behind her back before she could so much as form a response. "When the time comes, be sure you declare me as your second… don't ask questions just do it!"

"I don't even know your name!" Maribel cried.

"Mokou of Fujiwara!" the white-haired red-eyed girl said. "Now stay behind me if you don't feel like being the dinner of small-fry!"

"What-?" Maribel began to ask but Mokou hushed her with a harsh '_shh!_'and narrowed her eyes with what might have been a sense of anticipation towards the path from which Maribel had just come.

"Talk later," she said bluntly. "Here it comes."

The blonde girl emerged giggling from the shadows of the bamboo trees, held aloft by a pair of black, smoke-like wings. "_Ooh_, Rumia doesn't remember ordering anything for desert." She said. "Not that she's complaining, Rumia was getting sick of rabbits every night."

"Doubt you could stomach me." Mokou said venomously, cracking her knuckles. "You'd just end up getting heartburn."

"Oh, is that so? Only one way to find out." she answered, rising higher into the air with arms outstretched, her eyes falling on the girl hiding behind Mokou. "But first… comes the entrée!"

The girl pulled something resembling a black playing card from one of her sleeves, held it high over her head. "Darkness Sign: Demarcation!"

There was a flash, and the card appeared to hover over the girl for a moment, spinning on one corner before vanishing into a black mist. Then the darkness came. A wall of black rose up around the clearing, forming a barrier one would undoubtedly become hopelessly lost in should they ever attempt to cross it.

"Say it now!" Mokou hissed down at Maribel.

"M-mokou of Fujiwara will be my second!" Maribel cried out, not knowing what was about to happen.

"_Aw_, why'd you have to go and ruin-"

Mokou didn't wait for her to finish. Reaching into her pockets with both hands, she pulled out a handful paper talismans like the kind Maribel saw all over Shinto shrines; the same kind Mokou had sewn into the fabric of her baggy red pants and tied into her silver tresses. Then, without matches, lighter or anything of the sort she set them ablaze and threw them towards the girl in a fanlike spread. The black-clad girl, small in stature, deftly maneuvered through the spaces between the flames and countered with a flurry of slashes from her claw-like fingernails, which Mokou avoided easily by leaning out of the way, then responded with a savage sweeping kick that sent the girl spiraling through the air.

"Moon Sign: Moonlight Beam!" the girl shouted while upside down, after managing to stop her chaotic spinning. Doing a 360-degree turn in midair to face Mokou, she materialized a myriad of glowing blue orbs around her which fired rays of dazzling white light that arced across the clearing, cutting through bamboo stalks as though they were nothing but paper. A pair of fiery wings erupted from Mokou's back, scorching the fabric of her shirt as she propelled herself into the air to avoid the rays, landed sideways against one of the taller trees, and then used it to catapult herself towards the girl.

Taking the fight to close quarters, all the blonde girl had to her advantage was her size to help her duck and weave though Mokou's relentless attacks, still laughing as though it were nothing but a fun game they were playing. "Old bat can't aim, can she~?" she sang gleefully.

"You're a determined little shit, I'll give you that!" Mokou said, holding her hands out, palms spread. Flames sparked and flickered around them and then flew out toward their mark, just barely grazing the girl but getting close enough to singe the fabric of her black dress. Mokou closed the distance once again, not letting up for a moment. Each swing of her arm and swipe of her leg was wreathed in flame, and as they clashed it appeared to be more like some kind of exuberant dance than any fight Maribel could imagine.

As sudden and inexplicably as it had appeared the wall of darkness around them shattered with a flash of light and decomposed into mist. Seeing this, the girl's eyes filled with a mix of frustration and disappointment.

"Looks like it's your loss," Mokou said holding a defensive stance with a pair of talismans in both hands. "You chose to follow the spellcard rules. Withdraw now, or answer to the shrine maiden later."

Open hearing this threat, the girl's expression almost immediately changed to one of abject terror and without uttering another word, she turned about in midair and vanished into the night sky, her black wings flapping soundlessly.

"Doubt that'll keep her at bay for very long," Mokou muttered. "Her kind lives for the hunt and little else." She turned around and slapped her hands to her sides, brushing away ash and soot. "Well, that was exciting and all, but I suppose you've got a lot of questions right about now. Something along the lines of '_where am I_' or '_what was that_' and '_oh my goodness, why did some cute little girl just try to eat me_'?"

Maribel could only nod once, stiffly, her eyes fixed on the silver-haired girl.

"I'll start with the easiest and most obvious, and we should probably start walking, the gods only know what else might come looking for a midnight snack." Mokou said, walking around her camp to pick up a few things and put out the fire, which was already on its last legs. "Yeah, I can leave it like this overnight, no worries."

She led the way out of the clearing and back on the path, carrying a small pack on her back. "Okay, let me break it down for you now… you're not home anymore, you're not even in your own world. Welcome to Gensokyo."

Maribel looked up with a start. Gensokyo, the land written of in legends? A regular Shangri-La as some would put it. The world she had been striving to reach ever since she had entered college and not a minute after she had found it something was trying to make her its snack. She wanted to laugh but could quite find the nerve to do so.

"_Youkai_, ghosts, fairies, magicians, all those things 'n more live along aside humans. Not peacefully, mind you. _Youkai_ hunt humans for food and humans hunt _youkai_ to quell their numbers. You're one of the luckier ones."

"So that girl- was a _youkai_?"

"Yeah," Mokou shoved her hands in her pockets as she walked. "Must've had you figured as easy picking running 'round aimless like that. Who were you calling for anyways?"

"My friend, Renko" Maribel said. "She was right there with me when- Y-you don't think she was…?"

"Who knows," Mokou cut in with a dismissive wave of a hand. "Not every road leads to the same place. Either way, you need to get to the Hakurei maiden. She'll get you back to where you belong."

"Not without Renko!" Marbiel jumped in front of Mokou and stopped in her tracks, trying her best to look resolute.

Mokou looked at the girl before her with weary eyes.

"You've already cheated death once tonight, _don't push it_," she shoved Maribel aside and continued walking. A moment later she seemed to regret it and sighed, turning to face her, walking backwards with her hands in her pockets.

"Sorry. Not really good with new people. Or any people. Look, you've been through a lot. Get some rest. Sleeping outside is one thing for me, but for you it's another matter. There's a house up ahead, they'll probably let you stay there. We're," she paused, searching for the right word. "_Acquainted_."

With that said she turned back to the path and silently led the way ahead. Several minutes later Mokou looked back at her with a puzzled expression.

"We haven't met before somewhere, have we?"

"I don't think so." Maribel said uncertainly. "I think I'd remember, probably. My name is Maribel, by the way, I'm a university student. What- uh, who are you? What do you do here?"

"Me?" Mokou gave her a harsh laugh and an answer that sounded like it had been repeated before over a hundred times. "I'm just some health nut who owns a yakitori stand. Nice to meet you."


	2. The House of Eternity

Chapter 2 – The House of Eternity

The path Mokou led Maribel down did indeed lead to a house, though simply calling it a house would have been an understatement of the same scale as referring to the Versailles Palace as a small hut. It was only a two-story building, and Maribel guess the architecture might have been from the Heian era, though she had never really paid much attention during art classes. Either way it seemed to go on forever in either direction, which seemed fitting given what Mokou told her the name of it was.

"Behold," she said with a dramatic gesture. "_Eientei_, the House of Eternity. What a fucking pretentious name. With any luck we'll be greeted with one of the more, well, _reasonable_ servants."

As if on cue, a silhouette appears against the paper-screen door and slid it open to reveal a girl standing in the doorway; a red-eyed girl with purple hair and rabbit ears, wearing a black blazer over a white shirt and a pleated purple skirt. Maribel could clearly see that the ears were not attached to any sort of headband, but grew directly out of her head. But after everything she had seen that night, she wasn't surprised one bit.

"Oh. It's you." The rabbit girl said uneasily. "We received a report that a battle had broken out in the forest earlier, and I was afraid it was someone coming to make trouble."

"That would be the furthest thing from my mind, Inaba," Mokou answered with a lopsided smirk. "Just ran into some small fry _youkai_ who must have let the heat get to its head. But more importantly," she patted Maribel on the shoulder roughly, making her step forward. "Found this girl wandering around. From the looks of it she's from the outside world. Could you ask your master of the house if she could bed the night in one of your guestrooms?"

"I do have a name, you know." Maribel said dolefully, not enjoying the prospect of being known from here on as 'this girl'. "I told you. It's Maribel Hearn,"

The rabbit girl Mokou had called Inaba looked Maribel over for a moment and their gazes intersected. In that instant everything around her seemed to bend and distort, like walking through a house of mirrors at an amusement park, except in this case all the light around her seemed to sink toward the rabbit girl's red eyes, like they were twin pools of crimson quicksand. Maribel quickly jerked her gaze away and everything returned to normal, but a wave of dizziness sets in and she staggered backwards just in time for Mokou to catch her by the shoulders.

"Woah, easy there," Mokou said, standing her up straight and patting her on the back. "Forgot to mention you may want to avoid the eyes." She made looping motions around her ear with her finger. "They'll drive you mad, right?"

"My apologies," said the rabbit-eared girl, with a deep and sincere bow. "Sometimes my ability triggers unconsciously. Please wait here while I convey your request to my master."

Bowing again, she took a step back and closed the door before padding off back into the depths of the mansion.

"What… what on earth was that?" Maribel asked, still feeling lightheaded.

"Hah, nothing even close to Earth, actually." said Mokou, grinning at her own private joke. "Lunar rabbit. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that, too. The people who live here are from the moon."

"Oh," was all Maribel could say at this point, as the rabbit-eared silhouette reappeared and opened the door.

"You may enter," she said, and gestured though the door. "Please follow me and try not to wander off."

Mokou stuck her hands in her pocket and nodded. "Well then, have a good night. I'll be back around daybreak to pick you up and from here I'll take you to the Hakurei Shrine."

"You won't be coming inside?" Inaba asked, looking toward Mokou inquiringly. "My master has made it a point that I remind you of your standing invitation so long as you do not instigate any incidents with the princess."

"I'll be fine," Mokou asserted, waving her hand in front of her face. "It's for that very reason I chose to make myself scarce around here." The rabbit girl nodded hesitantly before guided Maribel inside after asking her to remove her shoes, and then closed the door behind her.

"Is she really going to be alright, Inaba?" Maribel asked, looking back. She may not have been very personable, but Mokou had been the one person in this world who had done anything to help her when it probably would have been less trouble to leave her to her grisly fate. With that in mind, Maribel couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving her outside. "It's probably going to get colder out there."

"She'll be fine," the rabbit girl assured her while walking briskly ahead through the candlelit corridors. Occasionally Maribel got the feeling that they were being watched from doorways on the sides of the hall, and small, red-eyed faces would peek out before a sharp glance from her guide sent them scurrying away. "If anyone, she'd be the last person in the world I'd be concerned about. And if you don't mind, please call me Reisen. Inaba is something the princess calls us rabbits, and Miss Fujiwara appears to have picked up on it. My master calls me Udonge, and I like that much better."

"Princess…?" Maribel asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"You'll meet her soon enough, I imagine." Reisen said, nodding to herself. "She isn't much for public appearances, though she'll probably show herself for supper," The rabbit girl smiled to herself. "It's been quite some time since we had our last guest and her Highness might take pleasure in the company of someone who wasn't a trying to blast their way in to pillage our treasure vault or whatever other reason."

Maribel swallowed hard and continued following the rabbit girl. She soon gave up on trying to remember the way they had come; all of the hallways looked the same and they seemed to go on forever bending and curving like a maze, at least until they reached a door at the end to the hallway. Reisen stopped and stood at attention, her hands folded behind her back. Looking back, Maribel saw a small face with small furry ears poke around a corner. She waved tentatively but it disappeared with a flurry of soft footsteps and hushed voices in the distance.

"Master, I have brought the guest," Reisen announced, ignoring the happenings behind her with what looked to be retrained annoyance. "Shall I have her enter?"

"Yes, please do," The responding voice was feminine and wise. Reisen slid the door open and beckons for Maribel to enter, to which she hesitantly complied.

The room she walked into was, for lack of a better term, the closest thing one could approach to a scientific laboratory without any of the modern conveniences she had grown so accustomed to. It was definitely nothing like the applied physics lab Renko showed her. The walls are lined with shelves crammed full of every measuring, testing, and observation device she could imagine, and some she probably couldn't have. Trays of chemical samples, test tube racks, what looks like a brass microscope with three eyepieces and lenses of various magnifications attached to arms on its sides... a model of Jupiter with all of its satellites floating around it on tiny brass arms. Maribel's mind was spinning trying to take all of this in.

At a wooden western-style writing desk, out of place in the otherwise Japanese mansion, sat a bespectacled woman with the same silver-hued hair as Mokou, worn in a single plait that fell down to her waist, absorbed in a large book written in a language Maribel did not recognize. Over her red and blue patterned dress is a plain white frock splattered with stains of various chemicals. Hearing the door close behind Maribel, she looked up, removing her spectacles and replaced them in a black case, which she slipped into the front pocket of her frock.

"So I heard from my apprentice that you've had quite the adventure in your short time with us," Reisen's master said with a quiet smile. "But let me assure you that so long as you are within these walls and abide by our rules, no harm will ever befall you. I understand Mokou will be escorting you out of the forest come tomorrow morning, but until that time please accept our hospitality." The woman said, standing up. "My name is Eirin, by the way, Eirin Yagokoro, a humble apothecary in service to Princess Kaguya Houraisan. And you must be Maribel Hearn. Now, with your permission, I would like to give you a cursory medical examination -completely non-invasive, mind you- to ensure you've received no lasting damage from your little encounter."

_Other than psychological, you mean?_ "Oh… okay." Maribel said, knowing that if the people of this house had truly wanted to harm her they'd had plenty of chances to do so already.

Eirin took the black case out of her pocket and replaced the spectacles over her eyes, then studied Maribel closely, making the girl feel more than a little self-conscious. At least she hadn't been told to strip naked, she thought to herself. After a moment Eirin took the glasses off again and put them away. "Well, you do appear to have a light sprain on your right ankle and some bruises on your arms and legs. Nothing serious, but you might want to have a dip in one of the baths before dinner for a while so it doesn't swell. I'll ask Reisen to show you the way."

"Was that it?" Maribel asked. "All you did was look at me."

Eirin smiled mysteriously and tapped the black case to the side of her head. "I did say non-invasive, did I not? Never doubt the precision of Lunarian craftsmanship. Udonge! Kindly escort our guest to the bathhouse."

When they had left, Eirin Yagokoro waited a moment before waving a hand over the writing desk, summoning a holographic image into the air. She studied it silently for a moment. The facts were there, but she could scarcely believe them, even when they were floating before her eyes.

"So," She said after a minute passed. "She really went and did it."

* * *

Garnet looked up at the massive red doors of the mansion with a mix of awe and apprehension. It had been practically child's play for her and Cirno to simply fly over the iron fence and sneak behind the redheaded gate guard, who must have been on the lookout for bigger foes, but now the first real obstacle stood in their way.

"I knew this was a bad ideah." Cirno exclaimed, her arms folded in front of her, and then took her fellow fairy by the hand in an attempt to pull her back to the side wall, which wasn't as well-lit as the front. "C'mon, let's head back 'fore that crazy maid with th' knives sees us."

"You sound like a child." Garnet censured her quietly through clenched teeth, pulling her arm away. "Keep it down or someone will _really _come."

"_Shh! _Someone really _came_!"

A shadow passed over them, blocking the lamplight, and Garnet felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of her face even though the night was a cool one. She looked up slowly and let out am inward sigh of relief when she saw not the infamous head maid with her throwing knives, but a pair of fairies. One had long red hair tied up in a ponytail, and the other with green hair, like her own, only shorter, both were dressed in elaborate black and white maid outfits.

"What're you two doing out here?" The red-haired of the pair asked. "And why are you not in uniform? You should be glad that Miss Sakuya wasn't the one who found you. She'd be super pissed, right?"

"Our uniforms are, uh, dirty right now." Garnet said, laughing nervously, lightly bopping herself on the head to drive the point even further. These fairies must not have been from the lakeside, otherwise they should have easily recognized her. Maybe, just maybe they were in luck.

"Well, we do have a couple of spare uniforms we can let you borrow for a while, don't we?" The red-haired fairy looked at her partner, who nodded silently. "But you can't keep them, okay? You just can't walk around the mansion like that or someone'll think you're an intruder."

"Er, thanks, we're in your debt." Garnet said. "But are you sure you can just lend us your clothes like that?"

"Don't worry about it!" The fairy assured her, sticking her thumb up while winking. "Anything we do behind Miss Sakuya's back is cool in my book. Quick!"

The two fairies flew up and pulled the front doors open; then motioned for to follow them in. After exchanging a brief glance Garnet and Cirno did just that. They were led through a wide hallway, painted a deep scarlet much like the outside, and from there into a massive common room with luxuriously upholstered chairs and couches and a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. The red-haired fairy motioned for them to wait there while she went into another room, and the other stood guard near the door, presumably to warn them if the head maid came by.

About a minute later she returned bearing a pair of maid outfits still on their hangers, clean, ironed and complete with frilly lace headdresses.

"Come on, let's get changed." Garnet said to Cirno with a little wink.

"Bugger me." Cirno muttered, looking down at the outfit that as it was passed to her. She turned to Garnet. "In the end, I'm still wear'n these bloody maid rags. Yer ganna owe me big time for this, y'hear? And I still ain't serv'n no tea!"

* * *

Maribel walked lightly over the cool stone floor as she stepped out of the changing room and to the outdoor bath, holding nothing but a clean white towel to preserve her modesty. Reisen had bowed politely at the entrance, informing her it would be her duty to supervise the other rabbits as they prepared dinner and then turn about and left, walking in her precise, almost military manner.

The air was cool against her skin, though, and the starlit sky with its crescent moon along with the bamboo shafts peeking over the privacy fence, and the hollow _thonk_ of the bamboo deer chaser created a scene that in any other day would have made her feel like she was visiting an ordinary spa in Japan.

But she had only recently learned she wasn't even in Japan anymore. This was Gensokyo, where everything and everyone could be a ravenous monster that saw her as little more than a delicious appetizer. At least here, inside these, she felt as though she could relax just a little. The people here seemed kind, if not a little offbeat. But really, they were royalty from the moon? She shook her head, unsure of what to believe anymore and made her was towards the steaming water.

"You're supposed to wash yourself before you enter the water." A voice suddenly asked, making her jump. Through the steam she could see the shape of a girl; a slender figure, long, long coal black hair. Her arms were resting on the stone floor behind her as she turned her head towards Maribel. "Has no one taught you this?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't realize someone was already here." Maribel said, gripping the towel closer.

The girl laughed to herself; it was a refined, aristocratic laugh, and she made sure to cover her mouth with the back of her hand. "Oh, I don't mind at all. But that doesn't answer my question."

"I- well, yes," Maribel said looking down, aware that this black-haired girl was watching her very intently. "But the, uh, rules weren't very strict where I'm from."

"Ahh, I see," the girl gestured to a water pump with a small bowl crafted from bamboo set beside it. "Baths are for relaxation. Wash yourself off over there."

"Wash?" Maribel looked down at the towel covering her breasts and then at the water pump. When she had gone with Renko to a spa in Kyoto they had been allowed to wear bathing suits. In fact, it had felt to her more like they had been visiting a water park than a traditional bathhouse.

"If it bothers you that much I'll avert my eyes." The girl said, sweeping her hands through the water, but never actually turned away. "You're still going to have to take it off when you come in."

Maribel felt her skin flush, and it wasn't from the heat from around the bath. Taking one last hesitant look at the water pump and the bowl she took a breath, exhaled, and walked over to the pump, pulling the towel away from her body. She could hear the playful splashes of the girl behind her as she filled the water bowl and poured it over her light skin, found a small bar of soap on the floor and quietly lathered it onto her body.

She hadn't realized just how thoroughly her body had been covered with dirt and mud, nor noticed the leaves and moss that were tangled into the blonde mess that was her hair, nor the scrapes and bruises on her arms and legs. After washing away the soap and watching the water spiral down the floor drain, she gathered herself and stood up turning to the bath, gingerly lowered her leg, testing the temperature of the water and quickly withdrew it from the unexpected heat, hearing another amused laugh from the girl.

"You're quite the interesting one!" she said, grinning deviously, her dark brown almond eyes penetrating the veil of steam between them. "Since the Inaba brought you here, I suppose you're not an enemy, not that you would be coming into my bath if you were, but you never know. What's your name?"

"Maribel," Maribel answered, lowering her foot completely into the water, and then the other. She slowly lowered herself into a sitting position across from her companion "Maribel Hearn."

"Merryberry?" The girl tried her name a few times, testing the sound of it on her tongue until she got it just right. "Maribel. Yes, that's a lovely name. Oh, I seem to have forgotten my manners, I am Kaguya Houraisan."

Maribel remembered the name, but it still took a moment for her to remember the rest. When she did, her eyes widened with shock. How could she have even guessed that she would meet her here? "You- Y-you're the princess?"

"Indeed! Though the title bears little meaning here," she smiled, toying with a strand of her silky hair. "But that's a story for another time. Now, if you don't mind me asking, what brings you into my house? Surly it wasn't simply to bathe. Your face and your arms are scratched. Please, tell me."

She didn't know why, but Maribel suddenly began the tale of how she had come to this place, starting with her dreams, her investigation of the temple with Renko, and of the crack in the air, and how she was pulled into it. Though the bath was warm, she felt her body shiver involuntarily, when she reached the next part, and she clutched her arms protectively around herself.

The mischievous look melted away from Kaguya's face, traded for a more somber one. "You poor thing," said the princess. "You've been through such a horrible trial." Then slowly, without breaking the water, she came closer and took Maribel into her arms, pulling her close. Maribel was surprised at first, taken off guard, uncertain of the other's intention; but her uncertainly soon fled and it was as though a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Maribel closed her eyes, remembering how Renko would comfort her like that when she woke from a nightmare. "You're just like me, aren't you? Lost and alone in a strange world, but you're not alone." the princess murmured, combing one hand through Maribel's blonde hair. "You've been brave, but you don't have to keep it inside anymore."

Maribel nodded silently, and in the protective arms of the princess of the moon, she let her tears finally fall.

* * *

"_Sod it!_ We're lost."

Garnet and Cirno went through yet another set of doors and another crimson hallway. For a moment the green-haired fairy began to wonder if they were indeed walking in circles, or perhaps they had fallen into some clever trap of the knife-wielding maid, but she quickly dispelled the thought. The air in this hallway was unmistakably different that the previous one – there was the hint of something old and musty.

"It's just a little further, I can feel it." Garnet assured her in the soothing, diplomatic tone she reserved for when Cirno was about to go and do something uncommonly stupid.

"Oh look! Another door - and lemme guess what's behind it - _another effing hallway_!" Cirno pointed at the large door bordered with intricate carvings. Garnet could sense that there was something particularly unusual about this door that she just couldn't put her finger on. There was no mistaking it. They had at last arrived at the lair of the sorcerer. "Well, you goin' ter open it or er' are we jus' goin' stand 'ere ?"

"Oh. Right. Sorry, I was just thinking." Garnet said, and with Cirno's help she pulled the door open.

"Yeh look right knackered." Cirno said, as they walked through the door. "When was the last time yeh got even an hour of kip?"

"Uh…" Garnet tried to think of an answer, more or less guessing at the meaning of some of the words Cirno used. She knew other fairies that spoke in a similar way, though they tended to put an effort into talking like everyone else in Gensokyo. Cirno seemed to be one of the few exceptions. "A while ago. I think?"

She stopped as soon as she entered the room. Bookcase upon bookcase lined the walls. Shelves filled with ancient tomes whose spines where marked in languages she had never seen before. The bookshelves spanned at least five tiers, towering over them up to a luminous ceiling. Bookcases floating above them, held fast by no visible rope or chain Yes, this was definitely the place. She stepped forward a few paces and leaned down to look closer at contents of one of the shelves, interested in the gold lettering, though she could not read it.

"Rats." A tired, weary voice echoed around them. "And small rats, at that - must have slipped through the traps. Hadn't thought about small rats, always the black-white."

"Who's there!" Cirno called out, pulling an ice-blue card from her sleeve. "Yeh wanna have a row wit us?"

"So the rats walk into _my_ library and command I show myself to them! _Ha_. Is it not proper etiquette in this land to state one's own identity before demanding the same of another? You are most certainly not any maids of this mansion. Our Sakuya would have to be restrained if she ever heard a fairy speak like that to her. Now, I suppose once again I Shall be standing in for the negligent cats, unlucky you. Fire Sign: Akiba Summer"

The first thing Garnet noticed was the temperature of the room suddenly spike up, then the faint shimmer you can see in the air on a really hot summer day. It wasn't until it was almost on top of them that Garnet saw the column of flame arc its way downward. And then, another drastic change in temperature - a cold snap. Cirno pushed her way forward and, holding a hand up the fire as though she could command it to stop, a shield of ice, shaped like a flower, crystallized at her fingertips in an instant. The fire licked around the edges of the shield but did not touch them.

Before long the flames died and the shield melted away. "Such command of the elements, to halt my fire." The voice came again. "Might you be one of the great fairies?"

"Nah, that'd be 'er." Cirno jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm still th' strongest."

"We didn't come her looking for a fight!" Garnet pleaded. "We came looking for the Witch of Spring Haze!"

"The witch of what, now?" There was a moment of silence. "Ah, yes. I believe I was been called that once." A girl stepped out from behind one of the floating bookcases. It was a short girl with purple hair dressed in baggy lavender-colored pajamas, with a matching nightcap that bore a gold crescent moon pinned to the front as well as a red and blue ribbon tied to either side. "I prefer the name Patchouli Knowledge, and The Unmoving Great Library is what I am known as by some, though I am moving right now. And now that I have given you my name, I expect you in turn give me yours and promptly explain exactly why you are trespassing before I call for the maid and let _her _deal with you."

"Garnet Moonsong, Great Fairy of the Misty Lake, and this is Cirno. I felt ill portents on the wind and thought to seek out your knowledge and your aid. We came to ask what is going to happen to Gesouyko and if there is anything to be done to stop it."

"Hmph… though it's most irksome to hear that one of my spells was defeated by a mere fairy, I am beholden to answer your question as best as I can." Patchouli took a breath and floated down to ground level. "The Hakurei Border is beginning to crumble, and as if that wasn't enough, a portal leading to realm of Makai is beginning to open."

Garnet was quiet for a moment. She had braced herself for the worst, but this was beyond anything she had imagined. Without the Border the very existence of Gensokyo was in peril. Cirno, meanwhile, was rubbing her chin, deep in thought.

"So, what in the bloody hell is that s'posed to mean?"

"It means that unless someone does something, and soon, this entire world is going straight to hell," said Pacthouli, floating up to one of the shelves. Unbelievably, none of the books showed any signs of damage from either fire or ice. She picked out a tome and pulled it off the shelf. Despite her small stature she had little difficulty moving it, though a closer look explained that the tome itself was actually floating over her hand. "Tell me, fairies, are either of you ever familiar with the name Amatsu-Mikaboshi?"

Cirno nodded to herself for a while before finally breaking the silence that had suddenly fallen after Patchouli opened her book.

"_Mika-what_?"

* * *

After getting out of the bath and drying herself, Maribel quietly put on the yukata that had been left out for her. Reisen had told her that her clothing would be washed and returned in the morning, but for some reason she'd always felt uncomfortable wearing Japanese clothes. At festivals Renko would often dress up in a nice kimono and then try to put on her, but she looked… awkward in them. Like a fish out of water.

Despite these thoughts, the fabric was soft and cool against her skin and she was suddenly reminded of the feel of Princess Kaguya Houraisan's smooth, flawless skin and she felt her face flush despite herself.

"Miss Hearn, I'm here to escort you to the dining hall." Reisen's voice came from behind the door, making Maribel jumped at the unexpected noise, and then quickly collected herself.

"Thanks," Maribel tied the cotton belt around herself, holding the garment close, then opened the door to find the straight-faced, rabbit-eared girl on the other side. "And it's all right to call me Maribel, or Mary if you like. You don't have to be so formal with me, Reisen. I'm not a VIP or anything."

Reisen's eyebrows furrowed with confusion for a moment, but then she smiled and curled the ends of her long silvery hair around a finger; an action that seemed somewhat strange in contrast to her stoic impassiveness of before. "It is only customary to treat an honored guest accordingly. Please, this way"

"This place seems a little empty for its size," Maribel said after a while. "Is it just you, Eirin, and the princess who live here?"

"No, no, no." Reisen said, shaking her head and laughed lightly. "There are _hundreds_ of _youkai_ rabbits here as well. They do most of the chores around here, though you've got to keep on them with an iron fist to make sure they get their work done right. They tend to avoid strangers, though you might see a few during dinner." She sighed. "We may as well employ fairies, as that Scarlet Manor does; they would be nearly as effective and twice as cheap."

Maribel saw a couple of shadows from open doors in the hallway but they quickly vanished, accompanied by childish giggles.

"It's like summer vacation," muttered Reisen, clapping a hand over her face with exasperation. Maribel couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Reisen seemed to realize this and cleared her throat. "Here we are, the dining hall is past these doors. Princess Kaguya will be attending, so please mind your manners."

Maribel wondered if Reisen would say the same thing if she had know that shortly before in what manner she had met the princess, but thought best not to mention it. Reisen opened the doors, flooding the hallway with light and politely ushered Maribel through.

As her eyes adjusted to the light Maribel could see inside was a large tatami-floored room filled with many tables, low to the ground with floor cushions set before them. Sitting at one of these tables was Eirin and Kaguya, who both looked up upon hearing the door open. The princess was dressed in a flowing purple kimono with wide sleeves, and her hair was pinned up with a pair of hair sticks. Her choice of clothing was more modest that Maribel had expected, but the princess' otherworldly beauty more than compensated for her plain attire.

"Oh! Maribel, over here." said Kaguya, waving the girl down by curling her fingers downward towards her palm. "You made it just in time. Here, come sit with us."

"Have the two of you met, your highness?" Eirin asked, her eyebrow arching suspiciously.

"Hm, in another life, perhaps…?" Kaguya replied without commitment, winking at Maribel, covering her mouth with her sleeve to laugh while her silver-haired companion let out a sigh. Maribel hesitated at first, but emboldened by Kaguya's openness she walked over to their table and sat down. "There's no need to sit like that, Maribel." The princess laughed, watching the girl try to assume the proper sitting posture with some difficulty. "We're all the same here, so make yourself comfortable - you too, Reisen! Don't be so stiff!"

"Yes, my princess." Reisen nodded and sat down beside Maribel. Soon after a door to the side opened and several rabbits with smaller ears than Reisen's came out, carrying platters with food and drink, which were arranged on the table. They then bowed with respect and left - all except for one, a waif-like rabbit girl with short, wavy black hair who began pouring sake into each of their cups.

"So, I have heard that you were brought here by Mokou Fuijiwara." Kaguya said, picking the lid off of on of the platters, letting the steam trapped beneath escape with a puff, revealing a bed of steamed meat and vegetables. "She's a, well, an _acquaintance_ of mine. Tell me, how is she doing of late?"

"She saved my life and then brought be here." Maribel said, and smelling the aroma of the food wafting her way, her stomach audibly reminded her it hadn't had any sustenance in quite a while. She then realized that Mokou had referred to the princess in the same manner, using the word 'acquainted' with a tone of distaste. "Other than that, er, other than that she didn't really talk about herself that much."

"How very typical of her," Kaguya said, loading meat onto her plate. "Though I should say normally she doesn't talk to strangers at all. How odd. "

"Princess, don't forget your vegetables." Eirin said with a scolding tone.

"Why?" Kaguya muttered, looking down at them distastefully. "It's not like they'll make any difference."

"As head of this household, it is your solemn duty to eat everything on your plate,"

"_Eirinnnn."_

"And to conduct yourself with a manner of dignity in front of your guest,"

"It really does all look very good." Maribel said, laughing to herself. The scene before her was more reminiscent of a family sitting down for dinner than a princess and her vassals. Somehow it didn't feel right that Mokou was not seated with them, but her thoughts were cut short when the short, black-haired rabbit girl move over next to her to fill her sake cup.

"So what do you think of our princess, huh?" She whispered, grinning slyly, nudging Maribel with her tiny elbow. "Not what you were expecting, huh? Here ya go, drink up."

"Uh, she's kind and elegant," Maribel whispered back, taking a sip from her cup. The sake was stronger than she was used to; she could feel the warmth spread throughout her body and her head fill with clouds. "And, uh, she's really lovely."

"Oh yeah? Well she's taken," the short-eared rabbit said, causing Reisen's face to flush a deep shade of red as she tried to hide it behind her sake cup. "She's all mine, okay? So hands off."

"I-I-I wasn't thinking of-!"

"Here, you can have my some of vegetables, Maribel." Kaguya smiled, piling her unwanted food onto her guest's plate. "Oh, what's the matter Inaba? Did you drink too fast?"

"N-no, my princess. I'm fine, really."

"So, anyway, let's get down to business. You interested in purchasing to some one-hundred percent effective talismans to protect you on the road? You'll get the first-time buyer discount."

"Tewi, do you remember what the Yama warned you about trying to scam people?"

"That it's okay?"

"Um, is that your f-foot, princess? P-please, not at the dinner table,"

"Stop being so selfish, Inaba."

She wasn't entirely sure if it was the sake, or the lively dinner conversation, or maybe a little of both, despite everything that had happened Maribel couldn't help but smile. Apart from her times with Renko, she hadn't had this much fun ever since… well, _ever_. When her thoughts turned to Renko - where she might be and what she might be going through – she was brought back down to earth, soon enough. It must have shown on her face because Kaguya spoke to her.

"Is there something on your mind?" The princess asked, swirling her cup around until the rabbit girl named Tewi moved over to refill it. "You look a bit preoccupied."

"Oh. Sorry, I was just, just thinking about my friend." Maribel looked down, at the feast before her, feeling guilty. "Thinking about whether she's lost here in this world - whether or not she's safe."

"I'll send a few rabbits out to gather information tomorrow." Eirin was the one to speak up this time. "Also, if you're traveling the road to the Hakurei Shrine, your journey will take you past the largest human settlement in Gensokyo. Reisen is to make her delivery of medicine there, so I'll have her accompany you. If anyone word she will be the first to hear about it. Can you do this for us, Udonge?"

"Of course, Master." Reisen replied as she picked up a steamed carrot Kaguya had covertly placed onto the long-eared rabbit's plate.

"Thank you." Maribel said, and nodded, feeling the tears well up once more. "For everything you've done for me."

"Hey, hey, don't do that!" Tewi said in a mock-reprimanding tone. "The wine'll get salty."

"_Tewi…!_"

"No, she's right." Maribel said, quickly wiping her eyes and smiling. "I've had enough of being afraid." She had to be strong now. For Renko, wherever she was.

When dinner was over several rabbits came to clear up the dishes while Maribel put on a pair of slippers and joined the princess for a stroll through the moonlit garden. Seeing Kaguya there, as beautiful as a goddess bathed in the light of the moon, Maribel could understand how anyone who fall in love with her at first sight – man or woman. Somewhere in the back of her mind she would be perfectly content to stay there, perhaps even forever, if she were given the choice. But she knew she had a home to return to, and so long as there was a path, she had to take it.

When they returned, Reisen showed her to the guestroom with the futon that had prepared for her. A soft breeze was blowing through a cracked window and the sound of cicadas chirping outside was enough to lull her to a sleep.

And that was when the dreams came.


	3. Hidden Variables

Chapter 3 – Hidden Variables

The stygian darkness of the forest engulfed her once again, ripping her away form the warm embrace of her bed and plunging her into a world of nightmares. She ran, knowing even as she did that the road would take her nowhere, and the towering bamboo rising up around her like sentinels, denying her any other path but forward. The childish giggling was always behind her, always just a step behind her, no matter how hard or how long she ran.

_Renko_ – she had to find Renko. She knew that Renko was somewhere in the forest. If she could only find her again, everything would be okay. She knew somehow she would be safe.

"It's not any fun if you don't run!" Rumia laughed, tugging at Maribel's hair and ripping at her clothes. Maribel knew she was being toyed with, but she dared not to slow down or stop or even think to look back at the thing that stalked her.

Maribel glimpsed a campfire up ahead in the distance and ran towards it with all the strength in her legs, but the more she tried, the further it sank away until all was swallowed in a sphere of black and all the light and hope was sapped from the world. All that existed was her - her and that ravenous beast shaped like a little girl. Burning red eyes pierced through the pitch and a gleaming white grin flashed fangs before something as strong as a bull grabbed her by the arm and wrenched her off her feet, tearing the sleeve of her dress off. Maribel screamed and kicked and swung her free hand blindly, but none of her feeble blows connected.

Nothing she did even mattered.

"I love it when they fight back." Rumia's singsong voice cooed into her ear before caught her arm and Maribel felt something wet on the back of her neck and realized with horror it was her assailant's tongue. "Mmm, makes 'em taste spicy!"

"_No_!" Maribel cried out, helplessly as Rumia pushed her roughly into the cold hard ground and sat on top of her, licking her lips, flashing her fangs still red with fresh blood. There was no reason why she shouldn't have been able to push the small girl off of her, but her body refused to move.

And then the fangs sunk into the flesh.

Maribel cried out, bolted upright, awake, breathing heavily. Her sheets were soaked with her sweat and her hair was plastered to the side of her face. She looked around frantically, trying to get her bearings in the dark, unfamiliar room, her thoughts jumbled and confused.

"Calm down, you were jus' having a nightmare."

The voice was firm but gentle, and gave her something familiar to latch onto, like a rock in the middle of the stormy sea.

"Renko?"

"Guess again."

Maribel blinked several times, trying to make out the seated figure in the corner of her room holding a plate with leftovers of the night's meal, long white hair that cascaded over her shoulders and spilled onto the floor, red bow, baggy pants with talismans sewn in, tattered shirt and red suspenders. It all came back to her like an avalanche.

"Mokou."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"No, I'm - I just didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were going to sleep outside or something."

"So I lied." Mokou said, chewing a mouthful of some kind of meat. "Doc let me in after Her Royal Pain in The Ass got tucked into bed. The kitchen bunnies gave me some grub. Don't want Kaguya to think I – shit, it's none of your concern, actually." She sighed and set the plate down on the floor in front of her roughly. "So, you had a bad dream. You kept going on like someone was try'n to kill you."

Maribel closed her eyes. It had occurred to her that Rumia had been hunting her in her dreams long before she ever stepped foot in this world. That monster, shrouded in the guise of a small child, wreathed in a cloud of impenetrable darkness, terrified her more than she cared to say. "I'd like to try and forget it."

"Suit yourself." Mokou shrugged, shoveling more food into her mouth. "Trust me I'm good at keeping my nose out of other people's business - got plenty of practice."

"I didn't mean it like that." Maribel pulled her futon up around herself, like a protective barrier. "If you don't mind, would you please stay in here a while longer?"

"What? You're not afraid of me?"

"Why would I be?" the girl from the other world looked across the dark room, where she could now see Mokou more clearly, looking back at her with her incredulous red eyes. "I don't know why, but I feel safer with you around."

"You're a strange girl, you know that?"

"Yes, I guess… I guess I probably am." Maribel laughed to herself. "Funny, that, I still can't be sure if this isn't just another dream. Or maybe my life before was just a dream and now I've finally woken up."

Mokou stared at her for a while without saying a word, and then finally said. "Go back to sleep. You've got a long day tomorrow. You'll want to be well-rested in case we meet trouble on the road. And I've got this nagging feeling you're going to be one hell of a trouble-magnet."

"Well, sorry." Maribel grumbled, and lay back down only to scowl at the ceiling.

"Hah! Forget about it," Mokou chuckled to herself as she stretched her arms out. "Actually, I should be thanking you. I was getting a little bored before you showed up, and there's only so much amusement Her Royal Pain can offer."

"Er, you're welcome?" Maribel rolled over. "Anyways, aren't you going to go to sleep?"

"Eventually," The silver-haired girl said indifferently, putting her hands behind her head as she reclined backward onto the floor. "You don't have to worry about me."

Maribel sighed, getting the distinct impression that trying to learn anything new about Mokou would be an exercise in futility, at least for now at any rate. "Somehow I doubt I'm going to be getting anymore sleep tonight."

"If you say so,"

Maribel was asleep no less than five minutes later.

…

Patchouli Knowledge sat at a large desk, pouring over a musty old volume through a pair of brass-rimmed spectacles. Everything and anything could be found on the shelves of the Voile Library from priceless grimoires containing ancient magic long forgotten by anyone else, written in languages that no longer existed, to poorly written romance novels of no redeeming literary value. She narrowed her eyes at the print on the page before her; the pages were discolored and the lettering was faded. She had long ago placed a climate-controlling enchantment on her library to mitigate the deterioration of her antique collection, but little could be done about pre-existing damage. A simple restorative spell could return the book to the state it was when it was brand new, but there was no telling what side effects that might have - a grimoire with inherent magical properties could easily be rendered forever powerless with the wrong spell.

Book restoration was not on her agenda, however, tempting though the notion was. Remi had charged her with the task of researching a particular issue that had recently come to her attention. It was uncommon enough for Remi to take any particular interest in her academic pursuits that Patchouli had actually taken her up on the request. Not to mention she was still expected to continue her routine of tutoring Flandre, as well as inscribing an arsenal of spellcards for the defense of the mansion, what good that ever did. Even on one of her good days, this was quite the workload. She glanced briefly at the set of cards she had just finished last night, seeing that the ink had finally dried, and wondered whether this plan she had concocted was the wisest she had or merely the product of sleep-deprived madness.

Her train of thought was briefly interrupted by the sound of the door swinging open and Sakuya Izayoi, the silver-haired head maid, pushing a cart laden with a silver tea set and a plate of madeleines, into the library.

"Good morning_,_ Sakuya," Patchouli said to the silver-haired maid as she stopped her cart beside the desk and proceeded to fill three cups with tea from the kettle.

"Madam Patchouli." Sakuya replied cordially, setting one of the cups on a saucer and placing it on the desk within Patchouli's reach, her movements fluid and elegant – the tea in the cup was undisturbed throughout the duration of its trip. Perhaps that was just Sakuya's time-manipulation abilities at work. "Darjeeling, as you requested."

"Thank you,"

"Lady Patchouli…" Sakuya began, hesitated, and then asked. "If I might inquire, are we to be expecting company today?"

Patchouli gave the head maid a reproachful look through her spectacles before turning her attention back down to her research. "I'm always expecting some rodent or another to appear unannounced. The Black-White one, for instance or even the Red-White one. The cats don't seem to even bother keeping them out anymore, so I might as well greet them with a measure of class."

For a fleeting moment the head maid's graceful demeanor was broken by a look of restrained disapproval. Her eyes shifted downward momentarily as she bit her lip unconsciously. Patchouli couldn't be sure if Sakuya was against Remilia's openness to guests or just the inevitably of cleaning up after them – whatever it was she made her true feelings on the matter opaque.

"I see." Sakuya replied, resuming her normal duties. "I have as well a message from my lady. She has requested your presence at midday to bring her up to date with your current findings."

"Tell her I'll see her when I see her." Patchouli said indifferently, much to Sakuya's annoyance. "You can find the answers to life's greatest mysteries hidden within these books, Sakuya, but you won't find them underlined with footnotes. Or tell her if she's really that interested, maybe she'll come down here. All that sunlight on the balcony can't be good for her. Now, if you're finished here I could use a bit of quiet for my studies. Oh, and leave the cart here, I'll have my familiar bring it back up in due time."

"As you wish," Sakuya gave a resigned sigh, bowing slightly before excusing herself. The many-colored magician breathed her own sigh of relief when she was gone.

"_Merde. _my dear fairies, it's safe for you to come out now." Patchouli said. "The evil head maid has left the building."

The pair of visitors from last night emerged from behind a bookcase, the more boisterous of the two rubbing the small of her back. "'loody hell! My sodding back! _That_ is th' _last _time ah'm sleeping on some bookshelf!"

"You get used to it after a while." Patchouli said without looking up from her book. "The books don't complain much and with the right mindset and a good pillow it can be quite comfortable."

"Yer jok'n right?" The ice fairy who had called herself Cirno said, incredulous. "Anyway, what crawled up _her_ arse and died?"

"Sakuya?" Patchouli took a moment to search for a suitable answer. "If you were in her shoes, I imagine you wouldn't be in a very good mood for most of your waking hours, either. She has to take care of all the cleaning in this vast mansion, cooking for an entire household of _very _picky eaters, _and_ fending off all the intruders who get past our gatekeeper. Like yourselves, for instance."

"We see your point," the green pony-tailed one called Garnet said with a nervous laugh. Despite the fact that this green one was apparently a Great Fairy, Cirno did not seem to defer to her authority, putting Patchouli's current understanding of fairy social hierarchy into question. If time permitted, and if her chronic allergies didn't put her out of commission within minutes, she might be tempted to do bit of field research on the subject. "We appreciate you providing us with a place to stay for the night, though you really didn't have to go to the trouble."

"What are you talking about?" Patchouli's eyes lifted from the page. "How could I not provide my two new _assistants_ with at the very least room and board? Now come, help yourself to some tea before it gets cold. Try the cookies as well, Sakuya made them, herself. _Je vous en prie_."

Cirno didn't need to be asked twice she was already wiping the crumbs off of her mouth and slurping down a cup of tea. Garnet, on the other hand, was more guarded than that. "Excuse me, Miss Patchouli… if I'm not mistaken, I believe you said 'assistants'?"

"That is correct," Patchouli set her teacup down and removed her spectacles to look at the green-haired fairy unobstructed. "There is a project of great importance with which I am in great need of assistance. I would do it myself if it were possible, but I can't pull myself away from this research, and I require my familiar to remain at my side."

"Actually now that our business here is done, we should probably be…"

"Ah, so you intend to take advantage of my hospitality after making use of my services and then flee when compensation is demanded of you." Patchouli said, narrowing her eyes. "Or are you going to give me the excuse that you are simply 'borrowing' my priceless information?"

"N-not in the slightest, er, Madam Patchouli," The light of comprehension, mixed with a look of resignation dawned in the greater fairy's eyes.

"There is someone I need you to bring here." Patchouli said, beginning her explanation. "I have yet to discern their location, but finding them and getting them to a safe place will be essential to the continued survival of Gensokyo. And when the time comes to retrieve them, I will have something to give to you. Hopefully you will have no need to use them, but one can never be too prepared for the unexpected."

She looked down again at the passage she was reading before.

_The Great Hakurei Border requires at least one living member of the Hakurei and Yakumo Houses to maintain. _

_So long as there is one who carries the blood of the Hakurei and Yakumo the Border will remain. _

…

Maribel had awoken early the following morning, finding herself alone in her room. Had Mokou's visit been just another dream? No, in the corner where she had been sitting there was still a plate with crumbs left on it, and the window leading out into the garden was slightly ajar. She sighed and got up, stretching her limbs, favoring the busied ones, just as a knock came at the door.

"Maribel? It's Reisen." The rabbit girl's voice came from the other side. "I was sent to see if you had awoken."

"Oh," Maribel caught her own reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall. Her hair was disheveled and one sleeve of her borrowed yukata was slipping off her shoulder. "I, uh, just got up, actually."

"In that case I have your clean clothes if you're ready to join us for breakfast."

After the dreams she'd had last night she probably had been tossing and turning, and her early morning disheveled look was not exactly how she wanted to present herself before the princess. She brushed down her hair as well as she could and opened the door to Reisen, who was carrying the clothes she had been wearing before; thoroughly cleaned and even mended in a few places where they had been torn during her frantic flight through the bamboo forest last night.

After getting herself dressed, assuring Reisen through a crack in the door that she wouldn't require any assistance, she followed the rabbit girl through the halls, now a little more familiar to her but still impossible to navigate without a guide, until they reached what looked like the same room where they had dinner. Kaguya was waiting there, and to Maribel's shock the princess' hair was even more mussed up than her own. Wrapped in a thick blanket like a cocoon, the princess lifted her hand feebly toward the door, and spoke as though she were fevered and delirious.

"Eirin… the light, it burns."

After breakfast was sorted, Eirin began stuffing various packages into a leather rucksack strapped to Reisen's back, along with whatever rations she felt they would need to last them through the trip. From what Maribel understood they would be passing through the largest human settlement in Gensokyo on their way to the Hakurei Shrine, where Reisen would peddle medicine, and they would also have a chance to gather information. If Maribel's friend had been seen, Eirin explained, news of it would undoubtedly have come to the village.

With that in mind, Maribel followed Eirin and Reisen toward the front of the mansion and out the front door, feeling as though the events of that morning were moving very much like a blur to her. Mokou was waiting for them outside, leaning against a wall with her hands stuck in her pockets and the bent end of a hand-rolled cigarette in her mouth. When she saw the group coming out she put it out with her thumb and index finger and tossed it on the ground, evoking a look of disdain from Reisen, who would undoubtedly have to pick it up later.

"Aw, so the princess didn't come out to see us off," Mokou said, starting forward. She put a hand on both Maribel and Reisen's backs and grinned. "What a shame. Well now, shall we get going? Youkai aren't really that active, 'specially in the early morning, but that doesn't mean we got time to just stand around dilly-dallying." She glanced at Eirin who was starting to look hesitant about this arrangement. "Oh, don't worry doc, I'll do my best to bring your precious bunny back in one piece."

And then, with a little encouragement from the back by Mokou, Maribel took the very first step of her journey. What waited for her at the end of that journey, and how long it would go on, neither of these questions she could hope to answer now, but still, as Mokou said, nothing would come of standing around doing nothing. If Renko was in Gensokyo, she would find her without fail and together they would find a way back to their own world.

The bamboo forest seemed a lot less threatening to her in the daylight. As she looked around, she might even go so far as to say it seemed almost inviting. It was a far cry from last night, when it felt as though the entire forest was some hairy beast was dead-set on swallowing her whole. Perhaps it was no different than before, but it seemed less dark because she was no longer afraid and alone. Taking point, Reisen led them through the winding paths of the forest much like she had done at the mansion, occasionally stopping to take a beaten old compass from a side pocket of her rucksack to check their bearings, and then, nodding to herself, strode forward with renewed confidence. Mokou took the rearguard, sometimes walking with her hands in her pockets and an indifferent look about her, or rolling a cigarette and lighting it with a snap of her fingers; a trick that surprised Maribel even after the third time.

"Stick to the path," Mokou said when Maribel glanced to the side with a curious look. "They don't call this the Bamboo Forest _of the Lost_ for nothing, y'know. It lures you in, _snatches_ you up, and _eats you_ up." She flashed an evil grin at the blonde girl, whose face had turned rather pale.

"I… I just thought I saw something over there." Maribel explained, involuntarily pulling herself away from the leering Mokou.

"Right, and you were thinking of going over there to see what it was?"

"I really wasn't…" Maribel muttered, but somehow she was having a difficult time convincing herself. She'd seen something off in the forest. Glowing, like a firefly, and there was something undeniably magnetic about it. If Mokou hadn't caught her there was a good chance she would have wandered off, hypnotized. "Must have been a Will 'o the Wisp," she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

"What was that?" Mokou asked, not really interested.

"Uh… it's kind of fairy from where I was born." Maribel explained. "I guess you'd know it as a Hitodama. It's a kind of light that lures people off the path. There are lots of scientific explanations for it like swamp gas, but I guess that doesn't really matter over here."

"No swamp gas here," Reisen said. "But Mokou is right, it isn't safe to go wandering off, even in daylight, and the next time you see anything out of the ordinary, let one of us know, okay?" And then she stopped, spotting something on the ground beside of the path, where a small patch of grass was growing and knelt over it. "Oh, good, there's one here. Maribel, come over here, I found something nice."

"What is it?" Maribel asked, kneeling beside the rabbit girl who was plucking something off the ground.

"Good-luck charm," Reisen said holding it up for her. "Of a sort."

"A four-leaf clover?" Maribel said skeptically. Renko had once explained to her that four-leaf clovers were simply the result of a genetic mutation, an error in the plant's blueprint, or something like that. But that had been a long time ago. "Does something like this really work here?"

"Maybe," Reisen said, leaned in close suddenly and deftly stuck it into Maribel's hair, much to her surprise, then stepped back and smiled at her handiwork. "I honestly didn't expect to find one here. A protective amulet from the Hakurei Shrine would probably be a lot more effective than something like this, but beggars can't be choosers, right?"

_And besides that, I already have a pair of escorts, so this is really just for my peace of mind, or something?_ Maribel thought to herself, touching her hair to see that the clover was still there.

"Well, so long as you don't go off chasing every pretty light you see, we won't have to test it," Mokou said indifferently and began walking again, leaving the other two with little choice but to follow her.

"So, you're really from the moon, then." Maribel said in an attempt to cut through the silence that had fallen over the three of them like a black cloud. Reisen, who had taken the lead again, glanced back at her, perking her ears up.

"Master Eirin, the princess and I are, yes." Reisen said, adjusting the straps of her rucksack. "The other rabbits that populate Eientei are youkai rabbits native to this world."

"So there really is a city on the far side of the moon." Maribel mused. "We've been to the moon many times, heck if you have enough money you can go on a moon tour."

"It's protected by a barrier, so outsiders cannot see it." Reisen explained. "To a visitor from the Earth, the landscape around the Capital would look as barren and inhospitable as the rest. The principle seems similar to the Great Hakurei Border, different design, similar concept."

"Is it okay for you to be telling me this?" Maribel asked.

Reisen thought over that for a moment and laughed. "Few have even tried to invade the Capital, Maribel. None have ever succeeded. I think it's safe to tell you that much."

…

She had lived in the darkness for so long the light of the sun was almost too much for her to bear. She floated, curled up in her little cloud of darkness like a baby bird hiding in its shell, waiting, nursing its wounds. The red and white one had cheated her, she had interfered with her hunt and had robbed her of her prize and it still stung. First it was the red and white one with the stick, the one they called the Hakurei Maiden, the one who had made them follow these rules, and now it was the red and white one with the fire.

"It's not fair." Rumia muttered, hugging her knees.

Darkness was everywhere. Darkness was absolute. Humans were meant to fear the darkness and seek the light, but now they carried the light and mocked the darkness. Every year she could see that the world was changing around her - changing in ways that did not make sense to her. Every year, every month, every day, it didn't matter – time lacked meaning to her in a world that lacked a sun and night was the only existence – she was the Night Bird.

It wasn't right.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

She did not understand it.

"You are lost, little nightingale, lost and alone." Rumia was almost not aware of the other presence until it was right upon her. Someone had entered her sphere of darkness. They had crossed the line of demarcation and stepped foot into the unknown. It was a woman's voice, sweet like honey. "But that's okay, little nightingale, because so is everyone else. Everyone in this world is just wandering through this endless abyss, lost and aimless, all alone. Tell me, what is it that you wish?"

Runia looked up, puzzled. "What I wish?"

"Yes, what do you want from this world?" The woman's voice intoned. "What do you seek for your own future?"

Rumia was confused, she cocked her head to the side. "I dunno, nothing? Something good to eat? Lady, are you something good to eat?"

"Not exactly, but that wasn't quite what I meant." The woman said. It sounded like she was a little closer now. "You are thinking short term goals, living in the moment for instant self gratification. Food is only one of the four basic needs of life. To limit your life to the pursuit of only one of the most basic necessities is constraining you."

"Lady, you talk a lot." Rumia said, rubbing her head. All of this listening was making her head hurt, and her stomach was grumbling. She hadn't eaten anything since her dinner had escaped her.

"That is true, but let me say one more thing." The woman appeared before Rumia. She was dressed in a dark black kimono with a red sash, her jet black hair tied back and a Hanya mask strapped to the side of her face. Her gold-black eyes gazed evenly at Rumia and her blood-red lips smiled. "What if there was something more? What if I told you that I needed someone like you, someone with your gifts? I think it time that we took back the night, my little nightingale. It is high time that humans feared the dark once again."

"Who are you?" Rumia asked, feeling strangely drawn into those unusual eyes.

"I'm a friend." The woman said. "You can call me… Mika."


	4. Dichotomies of Autumn

Chapter 4 – Dichotomies of Autumn

Garnet Moonsong gave a sigh of resignation as she floated down the endless rows of bookshelves, looking down each of them and occasionally glancing back at the scrap of parchment Patchouli Knowledge, her new mistress, had given to her. The librarian had inked a series of numbers, letters, and incomprehensible symbols onto the scrap, all while dictating in a hurried voice exactly how to find the location of the book she needed.

"I don't use anything as quaint as the Dewy Decimal System, no, not here," she had said. "_This_ is the Occult Cataloging Directory, otherwise known as the OCD."

"_Oooh_," Garnet had replied, trying her best to sound sufficiently impressed.

Of course, she had soon forgotten the directions and almost as soon she had found herself lost in an endless labyrinth of wood and paper, and the scribbling on the paper might as well have been in a different language. Maybe it was.

"Why does it have to be me?" Garnet asked herself in despair. Miss Patchouli could have most definitely found the book much faster and with far greater efficiency than herself, and there was also that bat-winged familiar of hers whom the fairy had seen flitting about, shelving books and what looked like taking inventory – a seemingly impossible task for an army, much less one individual – but even _she_ would know this library better than someone like herself. But even though that was the case, Patchouli had informed her she had to report her latest findings to her own mistress, Remilia Scarlet, and the bat-winged familiar was off performing some other task. Garnet sighed and folding the scrap of parchment away as a shadow fell over her. She immediately felt a strange chill go down her spine and she slowly lifted her eyes to see who or what had stepped out in front of her.

"Oh, it's just you." The fairy soon recognized the black-and-white clad magician with wavy blonde hair as Marisa Kirisame, one of the 'usual suspects' of whom Patchouli had warned her about intruding on the library. There was a leathery old tome with faded script on the spine tucked under the magician's arm, and a large sack slung over her shoulder, heavy with what the fairy could only assume was books.

"And you… you're that fairy from th' lake." Marisa looked down at the fairy and narrowed her eyes, as though searching through her memory. "What's da name, again?"

"It's Garn-"

"Fahget aboutit, doesn't even matter." Marisa interrupted her with a wave of her hand, and then treated the fairy to the kind of a look that could have peeled paint off the walls. "Now, if you jus' move outta the way, I already got everything I came here for, and all I needs is to be stuck here when that bean sprout gets back, yo."

"Wha-?" Garnet shuddered and stepped back before collecting herself; although it was not by her own choice, she and Cirno were currently in the care of Patchouli Knowledge, and as such it was her responsibility to repay the debt they had incurred for in any way she could. She stood her ground. "I, I can't let you leave here with anything that doesn't belong to you!"

"Oh, we got ourselves a brave one, 'ere, folks. Dis crazy fairy thinks she some kinda superhero." Marisa laughed. "Dis is a library, ain't it? The whole point is to share knowledge with everyone insteadah jus' hording it all fer one person." The corners of Marisa's mouth turned up into a smile, even though her eyes were not smiling at all. "So why don't ya jus' move outta the way and you won't have to embarrass yourself by havn' me have ta mop the floor wit your face."

Garnet felt the cold chill again, and what little resolve she had wavered as she stumbled backward, almost tripping over her own feet. She thought about calling out for Cirno, but her voice caught in her throat.

"Didn't think so," Marisa muttered, as walked past her, patting her roughly on the shoulder. "Ey, don't take it too hard kid, ya woulda never stood a chance."

The next thing Garnet knew, her vision was filled with a blinding white light as she felt what must have been a raging bull slam into her, and launched her through the air. The last thing she remembered was the wall of the libary moving towards her at an alarming speed, and then just like that, everything went dark.

…

Maribel stopped for a moment to rub her sore feet at take a sip of water from the canteen Reisen had handed her. It felt as though they had been walking for the better part of the day, though it was hard to say for certain, as the sun could not be seen over the never-ending sea of bamboo trees. The rabbit girl gave her compass a cursory glance and before Maribel knew it, their short respite was over.

"How much longer is it?" Maribel asked, watching Reisen's ears bob back and forth in front of her; a sight she had long become quite accustomed to.

"Shouldn't be much further," said Reisen.

"That was the second break we've taken this hour," Mokou added from behind with a disgruntled voice. "At this rate it'll be dusk before we reach the village. And then those hungry youkai who've been keeping their distance are going to start getting a whole lot braver."

"Sorry," Maribel muttered, looking back. "If I'd known I'd be walking this much, I would have thought to pack some better shoes." Mokou just shrugged and snapped her suspenders. The truth was, Maribel knew that the shoes she was wearing didn't really matter at all. Even after all of those expeditions she had taken with Renko, exploring abandoned temples and ruins, none of it could have prepared her for this.

"Well, I'm not carrying you, so best get used to it," Mokou said blithely. "Or learn how to fly. That'll take care of your sore feet."

"That's easier said than done, Miss Fujiwara." Reisen cut in, giving the silver-haired girl a reproachful look. "Maribel, I do have some salve Master Eirin gave me in case your feet have blisters. Take off your shoes and let me have a look."

Maribel shook her head, almost feeling Mokou's eyes burrowing into the back of her head. "No, its okay," she tried her best to smile though the discomfort, even though the smile probably came through as more of a wince. "You said it's not that much further, right? Let's keep going."

Maribel had said that, yet no less than ten minutes had passed before it felt as though her feet were on fire inside her shoes, and every step she took became a chore. She was almost ready to stop again when the sea of trees broke and they were standing before an open plain. Maribel shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun that ambushed her, that light that seemed almost like a stranger to her now.

"See?" Reisen said, putting her hand on Maribel's shoulder. "I told you it wouldn't be much longer."

Maribel just stood there, looking over the scene before her. Vast, plains of green and brown stretched out before her into the horizon where they met a pure blue sky. Rolling hills and tall, majestic mountains rose up through the haze in the distance. Nowhere in sight was there a single telephone pole. There was a single, straight road beneath their feet, but it was of dirt and gravel, not pavement.

"We ain't here to sightsee, are we?" Mokou said, appearing from the forest behind her. "Let's just head straight to the village and get this over with, the sooner we get behind those walls the better."

"Right," Maribel nodded, and followed Reisen down the road. The pain in her feet did not seem quite so horrible now that they were finally out of that never-ending forest, and every now and then a cool breeze would brush across her face, teasing her hair. It was what one could almost call a pleasant afternoon. After they had spent some time walking, Mokou and Reisen even started a game of shiritori to pass the time, which went on for quite a while until it was finally decided when Mokou called out _mikan _after Reisen's _nayami_, then red-faced immediately tried to take it back_. _The silver-haired girl grumbled something about being driven into a corner and she shoved her hands into her pockets and walked on ahead of them, scowling.

"How are your feet holding up?" Reisen asked after Mokou was out of earshot.

"They're fine, really." Maribel lied. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll pull my own weight."

Reisen gave her a measured look. "We'll find lodgings in the village for the night with an acquaintance. You can stay there while I work, and then tomorrow we'll make for the Hakurei Shrine. And if your friend has been through the area, someone in the village will most certainly know something. For all we know, she's already there, safe and sound."

Maribel nodded. Something told her Reisen was saying that to ease her mind, but it was still a nice thought. If Renko had awoken into that same nightmare she had found herself in- memories of glowing red eyes and blood stained lips flashed through her mind - no, she would rather not think about that.

Everything was going to be fine now.

…

"Oye, **OYE**, 're ya still alive?"

The voice echoed and bounced through her head like an errant pachinko ball, sending waves of searing pair throughout her temples while the white blur gradually receded, only to be replaced by a darker white blur. Candlelight.

"_Oye_, ya fink she's brawn bread?"

"I highly doubt she has been turned into any sort of baked good, but if you are meaning 'dead', then no." A second, tired and less excruciating voice spoke up from a little further away. "As you should well know, a fairy cannot be permanently killed unless their 'origin' is destroyed."

"What happened?" Garnet asked, trying to lift her head and only nearly avoided blacking out again.

"You failed to prevent thieving rats from ransacking my library is what happened." Patchouli sighed, while Cirno pulled her nose out from Garnet's face. "Not that I expected a different outcome. This is what happens when one outsources their security to… oh, nevermind. That black and white would have doubtless found a way to escape, regardless."

"Did you find out what she took?"

"The very text I had sent you to fetch, as it so happens." Patchouli said, waving the scrap of parchment she had given her in the air, then crumpled it into a ball. "A rare, annotated edition of the _Kojiki _that might have shed some light onto out current predicament; Kirisame picked quite the inopportune time to 'borrow' it."

"It sounded more like she had come here specifically for that book." Garnet said, easing herself up. She touched her gossamer wings tenderly and tried moving them; good, they weren't too badly damaged by the impact. "She was talking like she needed it for something."

"Hmph, she's always _needing _things to decorate that filthy hovel of hers." Patchouli muttered. "Regardless, there is still one place that remains where a copy of the book might be found. It's obscure enough that girl might have taken an interest in it. You will go to the human village to seek her out, and return with the book as soon as you have recovered it."

"An' she's jus' goin' ter let ya have it, dis book?"

"No, I should expect she'll want some form of compensation." Patchouli scanned the bookshelves a while before slowly floating up to one of the upper tiers, pulled a small book bound in dark red leather, and then descended back down to the floor and handed it to Cirno. The ice fairy flipped through the pages and scrunched up her eyes at it.

"Ah can't read a single bloody werd of it."

"That's because it is written in a very, very old dialect of kappa." Patchouli said, giving her a look as though she had serious doubts that Cirno could have read it if it had cliff notes. "Even a kappa could not read that if you were to give it to them, and it's of no real value to me. That girl, on the other hand, she specializes in this sort of work."

Cirno shut the book with a cold _snap_. "Eh. So we jus' go 'n trade dis one fer dat one and then everything's all peachy, right?"

"That would be the general idea, yes. Assuming no one else tries to murder you on the way." Patchouli said, rummaging through her robes. "Speaking of which, there is one other thing I have been meaning to give you. A contingency plan of sorts I had in case things became, well, difficult - it might have worked as deterrence before but never show all of the cards in your hand, as they say."

Patchouli retrieved a set of cards from within the folds of her robes. There were five in all, beautifully illuminated with scrollery and finely detailed illustrations in red, green, and blue ink. Garnet had never seen anything like it before, at least not up close. And Patchouli was handing them to her.

"Spellcards?"

"It seemed unusual that the great fairy would have not at least one in her possession." Patchouli said offhandedly. "Consider them a gift."

A gift that would further bind her to the librarian's service, Garnet thought wearily, taking the cards after a moment's hesitation. It had always vexed her that she did not have spellcards, but now that she finally had some within her reach, she did not know whether or not to take them.

"And what about the other books?" Garnet asked, shuffling through the stack, admiring the beautifully penned artwork.

Patchouli lifted an eyebrow. "What other books?"

Garnet fidgeted nervously, feeling the deep eyes of the librarian suddenly turned on her. "I saw Kirisame leave here carrying a whole sack full of books."

A look of confusion spread across the librarian's face; an expression that did not often make itself seen on that face, at least not in public. "That is impossible. I have already checked the inventory, and the only book unaccounted for is the..."

"_Miss Patchouli_!"

At that moment the doors crashed open with a sundering burst as a sound like a bolt of thunder crashed through the library, and a frantic red-headed door guard came stumbling in, then doubled over to catch her breath as soon as she reached Patchouli.

"What is the meaning of this, Meiling?" Patchouli demanded, visibly alarmed. Even she could not mistake the look of terror in the guard's eyes.

"It's… _it's the_… it's the little lady, Miss Patchouli," Meiling said in between gasps. "It's Mistress Flan… she…_ she's gone_!"

…

Reimu Hakurei frowned at the letter that lay beside her on the veranda, the rose-emblazoned wax seal of Remilia Scarlet broken, sipping a cup of steaming green tea in silence. A light breeze blew across the shrine proper, scattering fallen leaves across the freshly swept courtyard. The shrine maiden paid this no mind, instead opting to mull over the contents of the letter.

_Dear Reimu _

_Please come see me at the mansion as soon as possible. I have recently come upon the knowledge of something that may affect the very fate and future balance of this world. Do not tell anyone of this, even those you think you can trust._

_You are the only one I can trust with this._

_Love, _

_Remilia_

What was the vampire planning this time? Reimu found herself wondering this as she swirling the tea around the bottom of her cup. The last time she had allowed herself to get pulled into one of Remilia's schemes it had turned out to me far more trouble than is was worth. But there was something faintly urgent behind the pen strokes of this letter; something that made the shrine maiden ask herself if this was not just another one of the vampire aristocrat's whims. It _had_ been a few weeks since Reimu had last paid a social call to the red mansion, and a bored Remilia could very easily instigate an incident. Was this letter supposed to be some sort of thinly-veiled threat?

If there was truly some threat to the balance of Gensokyo, then she had no doubt that Yukari would appear out of the blue and put the responsibility for dealing with it onto her shoulders. But Reimu had not seen or heard one word from the gap youkai in over three months, and now would be the time Yukari would normally be going into hibernation until the next spring.

The rare sound of approaching footsteps broke Reimu out of her thoughts and spurred her to start acting like she was working, but on seeing who it was, she settled back down onto the veranda.

"Oh, it's just you."

"Been gett'n a lotta that," Marisa Kirisame said with strange laugh. Reimu gave her an inquiring glance, but the magician didn't bother to go into any further detail as she took the usual spot beside her and stretched her arms out. "So, why da long face?"

"You know how problems seem to have a tendency to find me?"

"Hell yeah, Stick'n with you keeps me in business." Marisa smirked. "So you gonna go see her, ya heartbreaker?"

Reimu shot her a look, red-faced, realizing too late it was tempting fate to leave anything out where Marisa could reach it, and sure enough the magician was looking over the letter while nibbling on the corner of a rice cracker; the soy-sauce flavored senbei Sanae had brought with her on her last visit.

"So, are ya?"

"I have an obligation to at least see what she wants," Reimu said, snatching the letter away and folded it up. It made things hard enough for her that she was all too often associated with Remilia, all she needed was for some tengu to overhear something and start spreading rumors. "If there is a legitimate problem, even if it is a youkai matter, I cannot simply turn a blind eye to it."

"Come on, don' tell me ya fargot what happened da last time ya played inta her hand?"

Reimu frowned at her friend and again started swirling the tea around the bottom of her cup. "What does it matter to you, Marisa? Trying to talk me out of work so you can go and grab it?"

"Nah, I'm jus' telling you it would be fer the betta if you sat this one out, Reimu." Marisa said looking down at the ground. "I don't want to see nothin bad happen to ya."

"What are you talking about?" Reimu gave Marisa an odd look and gulped down the last cold dregs of her tea. "If you know something, don't be holding out on me."

"It's jus'... y'know, if there was somethin' really terrible out there and ya didn't know whether or not ya could beat it." Marisa paused. "Would you still go out 'n face it, even know'n you might not come back alive? That your friends might not all be safe?"

"Yes." Reimu said, after thinking about it for a moment. "It's that, or ask someone else to do it."

"Then I'm sorry ta say dat means we ain't gonna be workin' together this time around, Reims, no way around it." Marisa sighed and stood up, brushing the dust off the backside of her black dress. "But, y'know, first I jus' want ya ta know that this is still me, Reimu. I ain't being controlled by no one, and I'm do'n is all of my own choice."

"Marisa, what-"

"I'm doing this for your sake, Reimu," Marisa Kirisame said quietly as she pulled a wooden octagon-shaped block from her pocket and aimed it at the shrine maiden with a painful look in her eyes. "_Love Sign_..."


End file.
